GEORGIA ACCUSED OF OVERCHARGING ARMENIA FOR NATURAL GAS
By M. Alkhazashvili
Translated by Diana Dundua
The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 3 2006
There is an additional reason to make Georgian-Russian relations
tenser. Russian giant Gazprom accuses Georgia of using the natural
gas considered for Armenia. Though Georgia categorically denies this
fact and states that recently Armenia has not expressed any problems
with Georgian side in transporting the natural gas. (The newspaper
Rezonansi.)
According to the General Director of Armrosgazprom Karen Karapetyan,
Armenia paid for Russian natural gas based on the metre on the
Georgian-Armenian border and not based on the metre in Armenia. “The
counter on the Georgian-Armenian border registered a higher amount of
gas use compared to the amount on the metre in Armenian territory,”
Karapetyan stated at a news conference on October 31.
According to her, in order to investigate the difference on the two
meters they suspended gas delivery for two days into Armenia. “The
counter on Georgian territory registered more gas than was sent to
Armenia but in order to avoid a cut-off we paid the whole amount,”
Karapetyan noted, adding that this registered gas couldn’t just
“disappear” between the two metres. Karapetyan said the metre on the
Georgia border was out-dated while the metre in Armenia is more modern.
Russia used the incident to call Georgia an untrustworthy transit
country. Russian owned Gazprom is in talks to get a stake in the
Iran-Armenia natural gas pipeline. It is stated in Gazprom that
after finishing the construction of the natural gas pipeline there
would not be any problems in transporting natural gas to Armenia. The
Iran-Armenia natural gas pipeline will supply 36 billion cubic metres
(bcm) of natural gas to Armenia for the next 20 years.
Georgian Ministry of Energy refuses to comment on the Russian
accusations. Head of the Natural Gas Transportation Company Rezo
Urushadze states that all accusations are wrong but if there has been
a mistake, Georgia will provide Armenia with an additional amount of
natural gas to make up the difference.

FRANCE’S ARMENIAN GHOSTS
Middle East Online, UK
Nov 3 2006
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler question the French legislation
of punishment of the expression of denial. That is, why France
would address Turkey on Armenians when they have delayed addressing
themselves about Algerians, or European complicity in the holocaust.
What pushes this legislation as Turkey hopes to join Europe’s Union?
Moral ghosts of the Holocaust still haunt Europe. Now in new guise,
moral ghosts are playing havoc with France’s capacity for moral
discernment. Draped under the absolutist mantle of virtue, France’s
legislators have lost their moral compass. The nation which charted
the first Human Rights Act has done a perplexing turn-about in order
to confront these other ghosts, others’ ghosts.
Is the French National Assembly’s sweeping law which would punish
any expression of denial that Turkey committed ‘genocide’ against
Armenians evidence of France’s own malaise, a reluctance to grapple
morally with admission of its own ghosts, and politically with the
admission of Turkey into Europe?
Over recent years Europe has expanded its boundaries so that Auschwitz
is now fully integrated into its midst. Europe is defining a new
moral identity for itself. Does France see itself part of that new
moral self-definition, or is France seeking to expand Europe’s moral
boundaries while contracting those boundaries in geo-political terms?
Europe is remembering too much, and too little. Too little, since
all Europeans have yet fully to confront their Holocaust ghosts;
too much, in that when they grapple with those ghosts they often
embrace collective expiation of guilt, re-defined by the late French
philosopher Jacques Derrida as “dissolution of guilt…If one starts
to accuse oneself by begging forgiveness of all crimes of the past
against humanity, there would not be a single innocent left on earth.”
After attempting to bury memories by long choosing not to remember
60 years on, Europe does commemorate the Holocaust, acknowledges
a shared guilt. But commemoration has not stilled the ghosts. They
creep further on — crossing historical and geographical boundaries
to tackle national memories of colonialism and slavery. The moral
pressure of the ghosts also induced Europeans to confront contemporary
moral challenges in Bosnia and Kosovo, while 9/11 compelled them to
relate to ‘the other’ in their midst.
What then drove this French insistence on a purist cross-border law
with regard to Turkey’s ghosts — an attempt perhaps to gain comfort
by turning away from confronting their own sins?
This imperative of grappling with ‘the other’ within their midst
complicates European attitudes on how to relate to ‘the other’ beyond
their realm, the other who would like to become part of their realm.
This is especially true of relations between some Europeans and Turks
— as Turkey negotiates to become a full part of Europe, negotiates
to stop being “the other’.
Could the enacting of a genocide-denial law committed by a country
which is not yet included in their midst be intended to help Europeans
avoid an historical grappling with ‘a European crime’ — if Europe be
enlarged to Turkey? Let rather Turkey remain beyond Europe, let its
‘genocide’ remain beyond Europe.
But if the French purpose was both to keep Turkey out of Europe
politically and Turkey’s tainted past out of Europe historically, it is
backfiring. Turkey’s ghost is doubling up as France’s Armenian ghosts.
Europe is at a crossroads between its past and its future orientation
— both political and moral. The French law seeks to put an indelible
stamp on the choices which define Europe, the basis on which Europe
ought to constitute itself.
With respect to Holocaust guilt, Derrida wrote: “If everyone is
considered guilty there will be no-one left to judge what then cannot
be adequately judged; if there is no-one to judge, then there is no
need for soul-search.” France’s insistence on a legalistic measure
to tackle the “Armenian genocide” takes the Derrida stricture to an
illogical conclusion.
The law is patently not the same as legislation against Holocaust
denial — as many European nations have done. Holocaust deniers still
try to ply their wares, their anti-Semitism meant to thrive on that
denial. Denial of the Armenian genocide is, however, a non-issue
in this respect: No-one in France, nor in Europe, nor indeed within
Turkey, uses denial to foment hatred.
Morally, it’s perfectly acceptable for France to prod Turkey to
confront its ghosts, as many Turks themselves demand of their
country. But beyond suspect political motives, is this legal rush
merely an attempt by some in France to cover-up refusal to confront
their national ghosts — from France’s colonial past?
Hardly surprisingly, aghast Turkish critics of the French action now
pursue a counter-challenge: What about your Algerian ghosts? France
is coming to terms with those ghosts, but “slowly” and “belatedly”
are the operative words. It took the film Indigenes by French-born
filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb about the role of Algerian conscripts in
World War II to gain those French veterans belated recognition.
As France attempts to impose a soul-search on others there is another
unexpected result: France, already under demand that it address its
own ghosts, is under pressure at home to reflect on the demand it
has made of Turkey. The ultimate injunction would seem to be “Judge
not the moral ghosts of ‘the other’!”‘
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler are Jerusalem-based reporters
and documentary filmmakers.
lish/?id=18122

ARMENIANS BREACH CEASEFIRE IN FRONTLINE
Author: S.Jaliloglu
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 3 2006
On 2 November the Armenian Armed Forces dislocated in Horadiz
Village of the occupied Azerbaijani region, Fizuli, fired guns and
machines guns at the Azerbaijan National Army from 18:00 to 18:30,
the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry informed Trend.
The Azerbaijan National Army was also fired at from 20:10 to 21:10
from the villages Meftili and Daratepe of Jebrayil District by the
Armenian forces located there.
The Azerbaijan National Army retaliated and no causalities were
reported

CANADIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY WITHDRAWS ITS SPONSORSHIP OF TURKISH CONFERENCE
Asbarez
11/3/2006
OTTAWA–The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)
has withdrawn its sponsorship of “Turkey in the World: Implications
for Canada” one-day conference organized by the Turkish Canadian
Advocacy Group and sponsored by DFAIT and the Turkish Embassy. The
conference will take place on November 3 in Ottawa.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the conference is a “special
lecture” titled “History as a Present Day Problem: the Ottoman Armenian
Question” to be delivered by Prof. Guenter Lewy, a well-known Armenian
Genocide denier engaged in Turkish propaganda rather than in scholarly
research.
Prof. Lewy’s participation in a DFAIT sponsored conference is in
conflict with the policies of the Canadian government and public
pronouncements of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign
Affairs.”
Moreover, the conference included discussions on Middle Eastern,
Mediterranean and Caucuses issues without representation from those
regions. Rather than make the conference an open and pluralistic
forum conducted by academic, diplomatic and expert participation,
organizers had handpicked panelists who are guaranteed to deliver
the message the organizers wanted to hear.
The withdrawal of DFAIT from the conference followed an October 23
letter by the Armenian National Committee of Canada to Minister MacKay
and a presentation to DFAIT of the concerns of the Canadian-Armenian
community.
The ANCC considers such a sponsorship morally and ethically
unacceptable and at odds with Canadian values and what Canada stands
for. “The conference and Prof. Lewy’s “headline” participation is
an insult to the Canadian government, to the House of Commons and to
Senate Members, to Quebec, Ontario and to British Columbia–the three
provinces which recognize the Armenian Genocide as a historic fact,”
said Aris Babikian, executive director of ANCC.
“The ANCC would like to take this opportunity to thank DFAIT and other
political authorities for their understanding and valuable input in
upholding the government’s principled stand on such important human
rights issues as the Armenian Genocide,” said Babikian.

TURKISH MILITARY COVERS UP MASS GRAVE OF POSSIBLE GENOCIDE VICTIMS
Asbarez
11/3/2006
MARDIN, Turkey–Turkish gendarmerie has instructed local villagers
of a southeastern region to keep silence about a recently discovered
a mass grave, discovered on October 17, that might contain remains
of Armenian Genocide victims in mass burial site that might contain
skeletons of massacred Armenians.
According to Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, a Kurdish newspaper published in
Turkish, villagers from Xirabebaba (Kuru) were digging a grave for
one of their relatives when they came across to a cave full of skulls
and bones of reportedly 40 people.
The Xirabebaba residents assumed they had uncovered a mass grave of
300 Armenian villagers massacred during the Genocide of 1915. They
informed Akarsu Gendarmerie headquarters, the local military unit,
about the discovered remains. Turkish army officers, according
to Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, instructed the villagers to block the cave
entrance and make no mention of the remains buried in it. The officers
said an investigation would take place.
The newspaper reported on the developments and the Turkish military’s
attempt to hide the news. In an October 22 article, titled Found
by Villagers: Covered up by the Military, the newspaper wrote that
soldiers from Akarsu gendarmerie headquarters came to the site,
covered the cave entrance and took photographs. Journalists, who had
arrived to obtain more information, were denied access to the cave.
Although there had been prior instances of finding mass burial sites
believed to be from the Armenian Genocide, this was the first incident
when a Turkish daily newspaper reported the discovery.
As the mass burial made news, local gendarmerie made another visit
to the villagers. The latter were pressed to report the name of
the person who leaked the mass burial discovery to the press. The
officers told the villagers that the news reported by Roj TV, an
international Kurdish satellite television, and Ulkede ozgur Gundem
were all lies. The villagers were warned not to show anyone directions
to the cave.
The victims of the mass grave, according to Sodertorn University
History Professor David Gaunt, are most likely the 150 Armenian and
120 Syrian males, heads of their families, from the nearby town of Dara
(now Oguz) killed on June 14, 1915.
The Armenian and Syrian residents were marched out of the town,
and only one person was known to have escaped to tell of what had
happened, Prof. Gaunt said. According to the Syrian survivor, his
marching neighbors were murdered and their bodies were placed in a
well. The mass burial in this cave suggests that the two groups could
have been killed in separate places, and that the Armenians were put
into this cave, while the Syrians were put in a well, concluded Prof.
Gaunt, whose book, Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian
Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, is due out this
month.

RECURRENT OSCE MONITORING TO BE HELD AT THE CONTACT LINE
ArmRadio.am
03.11.2006 10:26
Recurrent OSCE monitoring will be held today at the contact line
of the Armed Forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan, near Horadiz-Fizuli
road. From the Azerbaijani side the monitoring will be carried out
by field assistants of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Miroslav Vimetal
and Peter Kii. From the Armenian side the monitoring will be carried
out by field assistants Imre Palatinus and Gunter Folk.

POLISH DELEGATION LED BY SENATE MARSHAL BOGDAN BORISEVICH TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA
ArmRadio.am
03.11.2006 11:14
November 5 the delegation headed by Polish Senate Marshal Bogdan
Borisevich will arrive in Armenia.
November 6 a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Tigran Torosyan
is expected. The same day members of the delegation will meet with
representatives of the Polish community of Armenia.
Senate Marshal of the Republic of Poland Bogdan Borisevich will be
received also by RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan.
November 6 the Polish delegation will lay a wreath of flowers at the
memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims.
November 7 the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II will receive
Senate Marshal Bogdan Borisevich in the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin.
The same day the results of the meeting will be concluded at a press
conference in the National Assembly.

NKR FOREIGN MINISTER MET WITH THE ADVISER OF THE “CONSORTIUM INITIATIVE”
ArmRadio.am
03.11.2006 12:35
November 2 in the NKR Permanent Representation NKR Foreign Minister
Georgy Petrosyan had a meeting with independent adviser, adviser
on strategic issues of the “Consortium Initiative” organization
Catherine Barns.
NKR MFA Press Service reports that Foreign Minister Georgi Petrosyan
positively assessed the activity of the “Consortium Initiative” in
Nagorno Karabakh, underlining that the success of the organization’s
programs depends also on the constructive position of Azerbaijan. The
meeting was attended by NKR Permanent Representative to the Republic
of Armenia Karlen Avetisyan and the ” Consortium Initiative” European
Programs manager Desislava Rusanova.

LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENT ENVISAGED TO PROMOTE SUGAR PRODUCTION IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Nov 02 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. At the November 2 sitting, the
Armenian government approved the draft law on making an addition to
the RA Customs Code, whose purpose is to promote sugar production in
Armenia and protect the interests of local producers, NT was informed
from the RA Government Information and PR Department. Adoption of the
law will help ensure equal conditions for various economic entities
of the same branch of the economy and increase the demand for locally
produced sugar on the domestic market. It was mentioned during the
sitting that for example, the sugar plant of Georgia exports its
production into Armenia without paying customs duties in accordance
with the Free Trade Agreement. In essence, a situation has formed,
in which unequal conditions have been created for various economic
entities operating in the same branch. The taxation field is more
favorable for forein economic entities than for domestic producers.

GOVERNMENT PROMOTES LOCAL SUGAR PRODUCTION
Panorama.am
18:37 02/11/06
The government approved today amendments in the customs law aimed to
promote sugar production in the country. Government press services
report that the bill will provide equal opportunities for economic
units in the sector and will boost local demand of sugar. It was
pinpointed that sugar plan in Georgia exports its products to Armenia
without customs duty.
In fact, the local producers appear in unequal conditions whereas
foreign economic units enjoy more favorable taxation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress